Tag Archives: Singles

Background:

These mini skeins were spun as part of January’s rolag club. January’s rolags were inspired by the seasonal skies, and the “Midnight Clear” minis complemented the theme, inspired by the clear starry night skies that we are treated to on those cold winter nights.

Status: Sold

Background:

I went to Fibre East for the first time in 2015, and picked up some beautiful grey Gotland fibre and this amazing rainbow trilobal from Adelaide Walker. The combination reminded me of interferometric patterns in a diesel spill, of light playfully interacting with a dystopian industrial world. They had to go together.

Story:

Industrial landscape, grimy and gritty. Smoke belches. Factories consume the population. Is there any beauty to be had here?

Beauty and cruelty, hand in hand. The stark landscape has its own elegance. Monochrome scene, all shades of grey.

A splash of oil or diesel here and there – and suddenly – a break from the monochrome!

Rainbow patterns swirl in the industrial spill. A glimpse of a more colourful, maybe a kinder, world.

December’s rolag club, seen here, featured ‘Evergreen’ rolags and ‘Holly Berry’ beads. I have done quite a few beaded yarns in the past and there are several ways to add these kind of inclusions into yarn. In a plied yarn it is easy enough to thread your beads or sequins onto a thread and ply that thread along with the singles, as in this yarn, or you may be able to thread your beads directly onto one or more of your singles, but sometimes you want to spin your beads directly into the yarn. Here’s how:

Pinch your fibre back on itself, such that your bead can slide from the thread to the fibre.

Move your bead along and then gently pinch one end of the fibre, so that the bead cannot come off, and ease the other end of the fibre right through the bead so that the bead ends up placed in the middle of your staple length of fibre.

Here is a close-up showing the bead being threaded into the fibre. You can see that, having twisted the fibres, they show a clear distinction between each end of the fibre, as if it were a thread. The loop which has just passed through the bead has distinct ‘legs’. As you hold one end of the fibre, pull gently on one of these legs. If you feel a firm tug on the fibres you’re holding, try the other leg. It should connect to the free end of the fibre and allow you to pull that free end right through the bead.

Follow this procedure for each of the beads you want to spin into your yarn:

I like to get the spun single established first before I think about spinning in the beads. Here I am checking the gauge of the singles yarn against the commercial yarn (a worsted weight single spun yarn) that I am using in my project.

Now it’s time to start adding the beads into the yarn:

In order to control the spin, I will stop the wheel when I get to the point of attaching the first bead, just as in the Park and Draft for Wheels video, seen here.

When I want to attach a bead, I stop spinning the wheel and draft some fibre out to my desired thickness, just behind the pinched off twist.

I take a pre-threaded bead. (It is easier to handle these by picking the beads up, rather than by picking the fibre up.)

I hold the end of the fibre that passes through the bead with the thumb and fingers that are holding the twist in place, and lay the beaded fibre parallel to the section just drafted.

I restart the wheel and allow the twist to run up the drafted fibres, capturing the bead and the fibre onto which it was threaded in the process.

Repeat as often as desired, and the result is a beautifully beaded singles yarn:

Adding beads whilst spindle spinning

This is slightly trickier as you have to control the spin, as well as the beads, with your hands. Review the technique of Park and Draft on the Spindle, shown here. I would spin this sitting down so I could hold the spindle between my knees to keep it still when needed.

Follow the steps as above, to the point you want to add your first bead into your yarn.

Stop the spindle and hold it still.

Make sure you have your pre-threaded beads to hand.

draft out a length of fibre to your desired thickness.

Pick up a bead and lay the threaded bead alongside the freshly drafted fibre.

Position your hands such that the finger and thumb that are pinching off the twist can hold one end of the threaded fibre in place, and you have other fingers available to stabilise the other end of the threaded fibre.

Use your free hand to restart the spindle spinning and let the twist travel into the drafted fibres, capturing the bead as you go.

A video tutorial will follow as soon as possible and I will add it to this post.

Background:

This is “Champagne & Bouncy Castles”, so called because as I was spinning it all I could think of was parties. The fibre was unlabelled, but I suspect it is a merino/silk/angelina mix. There were so many beautiful colours blended together, I wanted to preserve that in the yarn and not over-complicate it. This is a lovely singles yarn, and the colours remain as clearly defined swirls in the twist.

Background:

This batt from Bits and Hobs was a joy to work with. It was called “Fruit and Flowers,” and inspired the idea of orchards. I spun it as a sports weight, gently thick and thin, singles yarn. As I wound the finished skein into a yarn cake, it transformed itself into a beautiful rose!

Story:

I grew up with orchards. They were, are, and always will be special, almost sacred, places. Like a secret garden, I could get away from everyday hustle and let nature envelop and balm. They took me through each season – from bare twigs to buds, from buds to flowers, from flowers to fruit, playing out the evolution of each year. Calm, peaceful and unforced productivity was a great model for life.

Information:

Title: Orchard

Composition: Super-fine merino, Silk, Angelina

Weight: 100g / 17 WPI / Sports weight

Length: 318m / 348yd approx.

Care: Hand wash only. Dry flat.

Details:

Date: November 2015

Skein code: 0079

Fibre: 18.5 micron merino, silk, angelina blended as a carded batt.

Source: Bits and Hobs

Status: Swapped

Background:

I love spinning batts as singles yarn. This beautiful batt from Habetrot fibres was called “Darkness” and inspired this Magma yarn, which in turn inspired its owner to design and make this “Queen of Hearts” ponchette. You can see the gradient yarn worked up into the pattern on the ravelry link.

Story:

You think the earth is dark and cold under your feet? Not a bit of it.

We are clinging to the skin of a boiling sphere of rock.

Heavy elements swirl below, occasionally breaking the surface to remind us of their presence, and power.

Land, that we like to think of as so permanent. That we like to possess, that through history we have fought over again and again, is destroyed and created constantly.